Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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Guru went to the battlefield to look after the injured. He saw one
Bhai Mahan Singh who was at his last movements. The Guru asked
Mahan Singh to express his last wish. Mahan Singh replied that he
wished nothing of this world nor of the next. All that he wanted was
that he and his company should be forgiven for having forsaken him
and the Sikh cause at Anandpur. 6 This episode illustrates the contrast
between the revolutionaries and the non-revolutionaries. The Brars
had offered to support the guru when he had no men of his own with
him, but they later demanded payment for their services. But, when
the very first opportunity to fight arose, they slipped away. On the
other hand, the Sikhs from Majha were not mercernaries. Bhai Mahan
Singh spurned even the so-called salvation or Mukti. He and his
companions rejoined the Guru because they wanted to erase the stigma
of having earlier forsaken the Guru and the revolutionary mission. it
is not a contrast between the valour of Brar Jats and that of Majha
Jats. it is a contrast between those who were fired by a revolutionary
zeal and those who were not. This episode also shows that the
revolutionary ideals had penetrated even to the level of womenfolk.
Mai Bhago not only led the men to the Guru, but she herself also
participated in the battle at Khidrana.
Another episode is even more illustrative of the difference
between the spirit of revolutionaries and that of others. Dalla, the
leader of the Brars, was very loud in his profession of loyalty to the
Guru. He even boasted that, had he and his men been present at
Anandpur, the Guru would not have suffered a reverse. Somebody at
that time presented a musket to Guru Gobind Singh. He asked Dalla
to bring someone out of his followers, who would agree to become a
human target, because he wanted to test the new musket. Who would
dare to offer himself ? The news, however, infiltrated to two of the
guru’s own men. Both came running to the Guru. There was a great
argument between them as to who had the first right to become the
target. Both the men, who disputed the right to become a target, were
Rangretas. 7 If loyalty of different castes were to be judged by such events
of the revolutionary phase of the Sikh movement, one would be tempted
to come to the conclusion that the Rangretas were superior to the Brar